On August 25, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas denied fifteen motions to dismiss filed by defendants in a class action case that is being prosecuted by Stoll Berne and two co-counsel firms in federal court in Austin, Texas. The lawsuit asserts that GPB Capital Holdings, LLC partnered with Ascendant Capital, LLC (formerly an Austin, Texas based branch of Axiom Capital Management, Inc.) and Ascendant Alternative Strategies, LLC to perpetrate a nearly $2 billion Ponzi scheme, and that the misconduct was facilitated by auditors and other professionals. The court ruled that each of plaintiffs’ claims was properly pleaded and that jurisdiction is proper in Texas. All motions to dismiss were denied in their entirety.
GPB’s founder, David Gentile, and one of its former managing partners, Jeffrey Lash, together with the owner and CEO of Ascendant, Jeffrey Schneider, have been indicted on federal wire and securities fraud and conspiracy charges.
The case is captioned Barasch, et al. v. GPB Capital Holdings, LLC, et al., Cause No. l:19-CV-1079-LY. Stoll Berne attorney Tim DeJong is working on the case.
